{Recipe Redux} Easy Caprese Salad

Greetings from the Bahamas!

Oh, yes. I’m in the Bahamas right now at Atlantis, Paradise Island. My kids have been begging to go there for about as long as they could speak. So, since I’m the best mom in the world, I took them there.

No. That’s not quite right. Actually, I had some free flight vouchers to use and the only destination I could find four seats to in July was Nassau. Apparently, people aren’t rushing off to the Carribbean when it’s 90 degrees everywhere else. Which also means I got a helluva deal on our hotel room.

Score.

Another thing people don’t want to do when it’s 90 degrees out is cook. That’s why I threw together this simple dish for the July edition of the Recipe Redux before we left.

This month’s theme is: No cook meals - fresh herbs and flavorful veggies are at their peak right now. How will you use them in their pure form? Even though I knew I wouldn’t be in town, I didn’t want to miss this one. Nothing says summer fresh like easy, peasy, Caprese.

Ca-prees-ie? Ca-pray-sie. Tom-a-to. To-mah-to.

Ideally I’d use one of the hundreds of heirloom tomatoes growing in my backyard but they’re still green, so I had to settle for store-bought. That’s OK because the star of this salad is, in my opinion, the mozzarella cheese. In most recipes I’ll opt for part-skim mozzarella to lower the fat but Caprese is one of those things that demands a good whole milk mozz.

Tomatoes? Check. Mozz? Check. Now all you need is some fresh basil and balsamic dressing (this one will work) and you’re good to go. If you’re feeling particularly lazy just drizzle your salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Or, if you’re uber-motivated, you can make a ridulously yummy and rich-looking balsamic reduction (although that voids the “no cook” aspect of the recipe).

Technically this isn’t even a recipe. It’s more of a method, really.

1. Slice
2. Assemble
3. Eat

Easy. Peasy.

P.S. Before I left for vaca I scheduled this post to go up automatically. I’m a bit of a control freak so I usually like to post my stuff manually (and then go back and check it 3 or 4 times to make sure there are no mistakes). So forgive me if this is formatted weird, or if it’s full of typos, or if the links below don’t work. I’ll fix it once I’m stateside!